Sakura Tea Soup ( Kao Tum Sakura )

In this recipe the unopened sakura flowers are pushed into the rice, and hot tea is poured onto the soup at the serving table. The flowers open when the hot water hits them. This is show food more than anything, the sakura flowers add a subtle floral flavour if you eat them, but they are mainly for display.

For this recipe you will need sakura (Japanese Cherry Blossom). It's coming near the end of Cherry Blossom season, but there's always next year. Take some of the unopened flowers with a little of the stalk attached to each.

Here you can see the soup before the tea is poured over it. Each of the unopened flowers has a little bit of the stalk still attached, and the stalk is pushed into the rice to hold the flower in place while the tea is poured. If you don't do this, the flower will float and not open.

Preparation
1. Cooking the rice with the beans together.
2. Slice the carrots and pickled radish finely.
3. Fry the garlic in a little oil to release the flavour, then add the shredded carrot and pickled radish with the light soy sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar, for 2 minutes.
4. Slice the spinach leaves finely.
5. Boil water and tea for 1 minute, blanch the spinach in this tea to soften it.
6. Now to serve. Fill a bowl with rice and beans. Spoon some of the spinach and carrot onto the side of the bowl.
7. Press some of the sakura flowers in the rice.
8. When serving pour some of the boiling tea over the rice (be careful not to pour it directly over the flowers). The sakura will open slowly.